1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to wireless communication devices and, more particularly, to controlling settings of wireless communication devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent advances in technology, mobile phones are able to be xe2x80x9cactivexe2x80x9d continuously for extended periods (e.g., periods of a week or more) without recharging the phone""s rechargeable battery. When mobile phones are active, they are able to receive incoming calls. Mobile phones include ringers that notify the user when a call is presently incoming.
Conventionally, mobile phones permit users to manually change the ringer-mode such as to a vibrate-mode or a mute-mode instead of a ring-mode. Hence, when the user of a mobile phone decides that they do not want to be disturbed, they are able to manually interact with the mobile phone to switch the ringer to either the vibrate-mode or the mute-mode. More recently, at least one mobile phone manufacturer has provided their mobile phones with a feature that allows users to define xe2x80x9cprofilesxe2x80x9d for different situations, such that specific ringer tunes, modes or volumes can be used for specific situations. For example, the xe2x80x9cprofilesxe2x80x9d might include normal, silent, meeting and outdoors. Hence, the user is able to interact with the mobile device to select a profile and thus manually switch to a particular profile and thus control the ringer mode. Accordingly, in situations in which users of mobile devices do not want to be interrupted or disturbed (such as while sleeping, during meetings or meal times), the user can interact with the mobile device to turn the ringer off or to switch the ringer to a vibrate mode.
Unfortunately, however, one disadvantage to conventional approaches towards ringer control is that users have to manually deactivate and reactivate the ringer. Often a user will forget to manually control the ringer for given situations. As one example, when a user leaves their mobile phone unattended while it is powered-on, they likely want the ringer to ring when an incoming call arrives. However, with this example, if the user previously set the ringer to a vibrate-mode, then the notification of the incoming call will not be received as the mobile phone will merely vibrate, yet the user is away from the phone and thus does not receive the notification. Users often carry their phone to work, then place it on their desk. Then, as user moves about the office, they leave their phone on their desk. In such situations, particularly given the busy and hectic schedules of users, users cannot always set the ringer mode to the most appropriate setting and thus may miss notification of incoming calls if the ringer is set to an inappropriate mode.
Thus, there is a need for improved approaches to enable greater control over ringers and other aspects of wireless communication devices.
Broadly speaking, the invention relates to improved approaches for adapting settings of wireless communication devices based on estimated proximity to respective users. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, one or more settings of a wireless communication device can be automatically altered in accordance with motion (if any) of the wireless communication device. Consequently, settings of the wireless communication device can be dynamically adapted based on the proximity (e.g., motion) of the wireless communication device to its user.
The invention is particularly suitable for use with wireless communication devices having constrained keypads and wireless browsers that display documents (e.g., such as markup language documents) or messages to users of the wireless communication devices.
The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as method, system, device, and a computer readable medium. Several embodiments of the invention are discussed below.
As a method for altering settings of a mobile device in accordance with motion information, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the operations of: obtaining motion information for a mobile device; determining whether one or more settings of the mobile device should be altered based on the motion information; and altering the one or more settings of the mobile device based on the motion information.
As a method for altering settings of a mobile device, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the operations of: determining whether the mobile device is proximate to its owner; setting one or more mobile device settings in accordance with a first mode when the determining determines that the mobile device is proximate to its owner; and setting the one or more mobile device settings in accordance with a second mode when the determining determines that the mobile device is not proximate to its owner.
As a method for altering settings of a mobile device, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the operations of: receiving a motion indication for the mobile device, the motion indication providing a quantification of the motion that the mobile device has recently undergone; determining from the motion indication whether the mobile device has been stationary for at least a first predetermined period of time; setting one or more mobile device settings to stationary preferences when the determining determines that the mobile device has been stationary for at least the first predetermined period of time; and setting the one or more mobile device settings to active preferences when the determining determines that the mobile device has not been stationary for at least the first predetermined period of time.
As a mobile communication device, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: a display screen; navigation or data entry buttons for facilitating user interaction with the mobile communication device; user preference store that stores user preference information; a motion sensor that detects movement of the mobile communication device; and a notification unit operatively connected to the user preference store and the motion sensor. The notification unit operates to provide notifications to a user of the mobile communication device based on the movement of the mobile communication device detected by the motion sensor.
As a computer readable medium including computer program code for altering settings of a mobile device in accordance with motion information, the computer readable medium includes at least: computer program code for obtaining motion information for a mobile device; computer program code for determining whether one or more settings of the mobile device should be altered based on the motion information; and computer program code for altering the one or more settings of the mobile device based on the motion information.
As a computer readable medium including computer program code for altering settings of a mobile device, the computer readable medium includes at least: computer program code for determining whether the mobile device is proximate to its owner; computer program code for setting one or more mobile device settings in accordance with a first mode when the determining determines that the mobile device is proximate to its owner; and computer program code for setting the one or more mobile device settings in accordance with a second mode when the determining determines that the mobile device is not proximate to its owner.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.